This super easy vegan hot chocolate recipe is rich and creamy with hints of cinnamon and vanilla. Spike it with your favorite booze or drink it straight up.
I’ve been tinkering with my vegan hot chocolate recipe, because winter is coming, and that means alllll of the hot drinks! Bring on the cocoa, y’all!
More Hot Drinks: Ginger Mocha Maca Latte, Mulled Apple Cider
Can Vegans Eat Chocolate?
A lot of folks are surprised to learn that vegans can even eat chocolate. While a lot of commercial chocolate — read: Hershey’s — is not vegan, good quality dark chocolate usually is.
Chocolate comes from the cocoa plant, and your basic dark chocolate only has three ingredients:
- cocoa powder – solids from the cocoa plant
- cocoa butter – fat from the cocoa plant
- sugar
Commercial brands add milk and butterfat to their chocolate to make up for the fact that their product contains so little (or no!) actual chocolate. Cocoa butter is more expensive than butterfat or milk fat, so they use these cheap, animal-based fillers instead of the real deal.
Making Vegan Hot Chocolate
When it comes to hot cocoa, though, that whole argument is kind of moot. You’re just using the cocoa powder with no added ingredients.
To make a hot cocoa recipe vegan, all you need to do is substitute non-dairy milk for the cow’s milk, and you’re good to go. The trick is mimicking the creaminess of dairy-based cocoa, because usually those recipes use heavy cream and whole milk.
For really decadent, rich, creamy hot cocoa, you need some extra fat, and that’s where I have a favorite trick: light coconut milk!
Start by mixing the cocoa powder with just enough of the coconut milk to form a thick paste. This will help the powder dissolve.
Once you have that paste, add the rest of the ingredients, whisk, and heat. Then it’s time to sip!
About the Coconut Milk
I first made this recipe with all full fat coconut milk, but the coconut flavor was too strong for my taste. This updated vegan hot cocoa recipe uses light coconut milk plus soy or oat milk for a better balance of fat and flavor.
There is still a mild coconut taste, so if coconut isn’t your thing, I’d suggest using all soy or oat milk. The cocoa won’t be as rich, but it won’t taste of coconut. You can also use 1 3/4 cups of vegan creamer in place of the coconut milk, if that’s your speed.
Spiking Your Cocoa
This hot cocoa is delicious on its own, but for extra warm-you-up power, you can spike it with the booze of your choice. It’s delightful with a splash of mint rum, but you can also use:
- plain rum
- whiskey
- coffee liqueur
- vanilla vodka
Or choose your own adventure, if there’s a booze-and-chocolate combo that I haven’t listed above. And tell me about it, so I can try it, too!
Vegan Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 15 ounce can light coconut milk
- 1/4 cup organic sugar – or equivalent amount of your favorite powdered sweetener
- 2 cups soy or oat milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ounce mint rum – or light or spiced rum, whiskey, or white whiskey (optional – This amount is per mug, not for the whole batch. Leaving the booze on the side means you can decide whether to spike, mug-by-mug.)
Instructions
- In a sauce pot, whisk the cocoa powder and 1/4 cup of the coconut milk together until it forms a paste
- Add the rest of the ingredients (including the remaining coconut milk), except the booze.
- Heat on medium-low, whisking constantly, until the cocoa powder mixture is totally dissolved and the cocoa is heated through.
- Serve immediately. If you're not planning to serve all of the cocoa right away, turn off the heat, and just turn the stove on to heat it back up when you're ready to ladle out a mug or two.
- If you want to spike it: Add whichever booze you're using into the bottom of a mug, then top off with cocoa.
Ginger Wroot
Wow, this looks like a lovely and tasty holiday “cocktail”…can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing a great idea for these cold months!
Tanya
We are sailing down the Intracoastal Waterway in NC drinking this amazing hot cocoa. Thank you for posting it!!
Becky Striepe
That sounds delightful. Cheers, Tanya!
Melissa K..
Have you ever tried homemade cashew milk? I buy organic cashews, soak, and blend. It can be thick, like cream, or thinner like milk depending on the ratio of nuts to water. In a Vitamix, I don’t even strain it. It is my milk of choice, and I intend to try it with this cocoa recipe! The perfect creamy mouthfeel and very mild taste are the best!
Becky Striepe
I have! Love cashew milk. It’s so creamy. Cashew cream might work well, but I wonder whether it would separate. Let me know how you like it with cashew milk- that sounds amazing!
Andrea
I make hot chocolate with almond milk, but I’ve never tried it with coconut milk — that must be so delicious! I like my chocolate to be as dark as possible. I never liked chocolate until I discovered bittersweet.
Becky Striepe
It definitely adds a lot of richness. I hope you enjoy it!
Jes
Hot cocoa is such a must for me! Love the little bit of cinnamon in your recipe–I’m going to have to try that soon as I normally go spiceless.
Becky Striepe
I kind of want to experiment with adding a little cayenne, too, to make a full-on Mexican hot chocolate! Since this batch was for company, I stayed on the safe side, but if it goes well, I’ll share that recipe, too!
Cadry's Kitchen
Like you said, I’ve found that with good quality dark chocolate, I’m satisfied with just a square or two because the flavor is so bold. Before I went vegan, I thought dark chocolate was bitter, but now I love the deep richness of taste.
Your hot cocoa sounds amazing! Definitely the perfect winter indulgence!
Becky Striepe
Isn’t it weird how your palate changes? Mine has changed a lot too since going vegan! And thank you! I can’t wait to make more!
An Unrefined Vegan
Oh yum! I also treat myself often to homemade hot chocolate, though have never made it with coconut milk. That has GOT to be good!
Becky, I’ve passed along a Healthy Fun Food Blogger award to you: https://anunrefinedvegan.com/2012/12/12/gettinggiving/ No obligation, just wanted to say that I enjoy what you do!
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much! I am so touched!